Su Manshu, the "first love monk in the Republic of China", became a monk three times and returned to secular life three times. He loved to visit brothels, was gluttonous with food and drink, but was able to write tear-jerking love poems and is still praised by people today.

"The No. 1 Love Monk in the Republic of China" Su Manshu was a monk three times and returned to secular life three times. He loved to visit brothels, was gluttonous with food and drink, but was able to write tear-jerking love poems, and is still praised today.

Su Manshu’s father, Su Jaishank, comes from the Su family in Xiangshan County, Guangdong, and his ancestors have accumulated a lot of wealth. Because he runs the tea business, his family is well off. Su Manshu was born into such a family, and had such a capable father. His childhood should have been happy, carefree, and carefree, but the fact was exactly the opposite. Su Manshu's childhood was very rough.

This all stems from an extramarital affair of his father. Su Manshu's biological mother was a Japanese woman named Wakako Kawai. She was the sister of Jason Su's concubine Kawai Sen in Japan and was working as a domestic servant in the Su family at the time. Because there was no matchmaker, Su Manshu was born an illegitimate child who was looked down upon by others. Because the Su family attaches great importance to the family reputation, such a scandal was really unbearable, so they asked Hehexian to raise Su Manshu and remarry his biological mother to someone else. This matter was solved silently.

In the following years, Su Manshu's father was recalled by the Su family, while Su Manshu and his adoptive mother Kawai Sen stayed in Japan. If it hadn't been for the scarcity of the Su family's heirs, Su Manshu might not have come to China in this life.

Helpless childhood, he became a monk for the first time

When Su Manshu was 6 years old, the Su family took Su Manshu and his adoptive mother He Hexian back to the Su family's old home in Guangdong in order to continue their incense. I thought that being accepted by the big family would finally lead a happy life. Unexpectedly, the mother and son fell into a more difficult situation.

Because his biological mother and adoptive mother were both Japanese, and because he was an illegitimate child, Su Manshu's life in the Su family was not easy. The conservative Su family held deep prejudice against both mother and son. Discrimination, bullying, and exclusion caused the adoptive mother Kawai-sen to gradually collapse. One night, the adoptive mother escaped from the Su family alone. Su Manshu, who lost the protection of her adoptive mother, was in an even more difficult situation.

This year, 12-year-old Su Manshu was infected with severe malaria . The head of the Su family, Chen, not only refused to ask a doctor for treatment, but also threw him into the woodshed and left him to fend for himself. Su Manshu had no medical treatment, no medicine and no one to take care of her, yet she actually recovered. During his illness, his family's dislike of him left a wound in Su Manshu's heart that was difficult to heal.

Knowing that he had no place in the Su family, Su Manshu thought of running away from home. In this way, Su Manshu followed the old monk who was begging for alms and came to a temple. He told the old monk all about his tragic situation and begged the old monk to take him in. The old monk couldn't bear it and ordained him.

This is the first time Su Manshu has become a monk.

Temple life is calm and uneventful, but the precepts are strict. 12-year-old Su Manshu could not resist his appetite and secretly caught a pigeon while other monks were not prepared. But how could the smoke and aroma of roasted pigeon be hidden from the monks who had always been vegetarians? Su Manshu was soon discovered to have violated the precepts and was kicked out of the temple. Su Manshu, who had nowhere to go, returned to the cold Su family.

The missing lover, he became a monk for the second time

Not long after, he went to Shanghai to join his father who ran a tea house, and also got the opportunity to study in a Shanghai missionary school. In school, no one held on to his identity, and no one bullied or insulted him wantonly. Su Manshu was like a fish swimming into the sea, swimming freely in the ocean of knowledge. He learned English, German, Sanskrit , and also received a loving Spanish English teacher. From then on, he regarded Shanghai as his roots.

Su Manshu went to Japan to study with her cousin after graduating from a missionary school in Shanghai. When he came to Yokohama Datong School in Japan, Su Manshu's art talent was recognized by the school, and he became a part-time art teacher at the school.

Su Manshu's paintings are graceful, natural and have outstanding artistic conception. Many people ask him for paintings. Su Manshu has her own principles for remuneration for paintings: if a beautiful woman asks for a painting, she will not be paid, and she can just exchange for photos. When a man asks for a painting, he will often decline politely.

Surprisingly, Su Manshu is also very savvy in poetry. The breakup poem " ability poem " written by him, "Returning to Qing Qing with a bowl of heartless tears, wishing we met before we were shaved", many people can memorize it now. The whole poem expresses the feeling of being like a duckweed and homesickness.Xie Mian of the Writers Association believes that Su Manshu wrote the old-style poetry to the extreme.

In fact, when Su Manshu came to Japan, she still had her own thoughts hidden, which was to find her adoptive mother, Kawai-sen. After many twists and turns, Su Manshu finally found his adoptive mother who lived with his grandfather. It was also in this small mountain village that he met his first love Juzi.

The two soon fell in love. They often secretly exchanged letters and expressed their love. But no matter how beautiful the love is, it can't overcome any objection from the family. The Su family was prejudiced against Japanese women due to previous incidents, and strongly opposed their love. Li Manshu's uncle was rude and made Juzi's love letter to Su Manshu public. Unable to bear the criticism of others, his lover committed suicide in shame, anger and pain!

His lover passed away miserably like this, and Su Manshu was extremely sad. He interrupted his studies and returned to China. He once again chose to shave off his beard and hair, put on a cassock, and recite Buddhist scriptures for his lover in front of the ancient Buddha's green lantern.

This is the second time Su Manshu has become a monk.

But the abbot saw that his earthly destiny was not over, so he advised him not to be confused by the temporary sadness and see his true heart clearly, and let him decide whether to continue to stay in the monastery. In this way, after a short period of becoming a monk, Su Manshu returned to Japan to continue his studies and was admitted to Waseda University with excellent results. In memory of Juzi, Su Manshu wrote the story of himself and Juzi into "The Legend of Duanhong Lingyan" and published it, which caused quite a sensation in Japan.

Qian Zhongshu In " Besieged City ", he once described that Su Manshu had a very high reputation among international students who went abroad.

A bleak future, he became a monk for the third time

While studying in Japan, Su Manshu got acquainted with progressive people such as Huang Xing, Chen Tianhua, Zhang Taiyan. He joined the Allied Youth Association and the Volunteer Army, but he also made his cousin dissatisfied and stopped his sponsorship. Helpless, he wrote a fake "suicide note" on his way back to China, declaring his farewell to the Su family forever. After

, he served as the chief writer of a domestic newspaper and became colleagues with Chen Duxiu, Zhang Shizhao, He Meishi, etc. Later, he began to translate excellent foreign literary works. His translation of "Les Misérables" was serialized in the "National Daily" and printed and published in bookstores. During this period, Su Manshu also formed a deep friendship with Chen Duxiu. Chen Duxiu helped Su Manshu learn Chinese literature and continuously improved his literary attainments.

However, due to the ban by the Qing government, the newspaper closed down, and Su Manshu came to Hong Kong. That year, the Huanghuagang Uprising failed, and old Shanghai friends Zhang Taiyan and Zou Rong were imprisoned for supporting progress. Kang Youwei shouted to protect the emperor and establish the constitution, and raised a lot of donations, but broke his oath and took the money away and fled to Hong Kong.

Su Manshu, who was also in Hong Kong, was filled with indignation and wanted to eliminate harm for the people. He found Chen Shaobai to borrow a pistol and wanted to assassinate Kang Youwei. But Chen Shaobai was afraid of harming himself and tried his best to dissuade Su Manshu. This failed assassination made Su Manshu disheartened. He once again considered becoming a monk, which he did.

This is the third time Su Manshu has become a monk.

The difficult temple life and strict rules and regulations are incompatible with Su Manshu's personality. So he walked from the temple to the world again. This time he traveled to many countries and stayed briefly in Southeast Asia.

In December 1911, Su Manshu, who was teaching in Indonesia, was very excited after hearing the news of the Wuchang Uprising. However, it was February 1912 when Su Manshu finally set foot on Chinese soil. The interim president is no longer Sun Yat-sen, but Yuan Shikai , and Zhang Taiyan also went north to work with him.

Su Manshu fell into despair for the country, the nation and himself. From then on, he indulged in drinking, sex and entertainment.

Others would just show off when they meet the geishas, ​​but Su Manshu romances the girls and has no intention of playing with them. He will write poems to the geishas, ​​looking for a gentle place to relieve his sadness of "being reduced to the end of the world". In his opinion, the soul is immortal because of love, and life exists because of the air. He pursues spiritual love and is unwilling to go beyond the physical realm. He is such an infatuated person.

Extraordinary talent, but he unfortunately died young.

Such Su Manshu had a bad habit of gluttony. During the Republic of China, a candy called Malden was popular. He couldn't stop eating it. If he didn't eat it any day, he would drool with greed. In order to eat this candy, he once pawned all his valuable things to buy candy.

Su Manshu has a good friend, Ye Chulun, who likes Su Manshu's paintings very much. He begged many times, but Su Manshu refused with various reasons. So Ye Chulun thought of a good way. He carefully invited Su Manshu to visit the mansion, and then locked Su Manshu inside when Su Manshu was not prepared. In exchange for Malden candies, he lured Su Manshu to paint. This trick really worked, and Su Manshu painted such masterpieces as "Dreams on the Fendi".

was forced to paint because of his gluttony, which is really dumbfounding.

In the autumn of 1917, Su Manshu suffered from gastrointestinal disease and was admitted to a hospital in Shanghai. Chiang Kai-shek arranged for someone to pay his medical expenses and took him back to Chiang's residence . But in winter, he suffered from hemorrhoids and had to return to the hospital for treatment. While lingering on the sickbed, Su Manshu also asked someone to send letters to Cai Yuanpei and Chen Duxiu, hoping to study painting abroad after recovering from the illness.

But the gluttonous Su Manshu eventually worsened his condition by eating sugar-fried chestnuts and passed away on May 2, 1918. His last words: "I miss my mother Dongdao. No worries about all sentient beings."

After Su Manshu's death, the spiritual wealth he left behind was praised by others, and even started a "Manshu fever". Some people published commemorative articles and comments in magazines. Liu Yazi collected, sorted and published Su Manshu's works, and the Japanese Sinological Circle held a "Manshu Research Conference", inviting literati and poets to participate. They are all using their own ways to commemorate this cultural wonder who combined talents, emotions, courage and wisdom, became a monk three times and returned to secular life three times.

Nowadays, when you come to the Xileng Bridge on the West Lake in Hangzhou, you will see Su Manshu’s tomb. On the other side of the bridge, Su Xiaoxiao, a famous prostitute in the Northern and Southern Dynasties, is buried. Two people with a perfect temperament rested here after their death, and they had to sigh: there is a destiny in the dark.

@爱米儿 said

Speaking of Su Manshu, it reminds me of Master Hongyi Li Shutong. In fact, the early experiences of the two people are somewhat similar, including studying in Japan, including their talent for reading and painting, and their experience of becoming a monk.

So the first thing I thought about was, why are they so talented?

First of all, I think it is better to be born into a wealthy family. Even if you are not popular as a child, you can later receive a good education, go to school, go abroad, broaden your horizons, and accept some new things.

Secondly, misfortune, the neglect and suffering suffered in childhood will make a person's mind more sensitive and delicate, and he can feel the sadness better. Although empathy is an ability, human beings' joys and sorrows are not the same. Without experiencing that kind of sadness, it is difficult to understand the sadness of others, and it is also difficult to create good works of art.

I remember Mu Xin recalling that his father passed away when he was 6 years old. He said that at that time he only remembered that there were many relatives, friends, monks and nuns coming to the house, and it was a mess, but I did not feel sad because I could not understand that kind of sadness.

He said that the difference between Su Manshu and Li Shutong is that after Li Shutong became a monk, he became a real Qingdeng Ancient Buddha, wearing rags and rags, practiced hard for decades, and finally became a master of the Vinaya Sect. Su Manshu became a monk three times and returned to secular life three times.

So what are the differences between them? I think Su Manshu is still too young. She wanted to become a monk at a young age. She became a monk, maybe because of a mouthful of food, or because of a bit of womanizing, and returned to the secular world. When she encountered setbacks, she thought about getting married again. When she encountered temptation, she returned to the secular world again. So he is always in a young, immature and unstable state.

As for Li Shutong, he became a monk at the age of 38. At this time, he had already fully understood the love, hatred, hatred, eating, drinking and having fun in the world, and people were also in a very stable state.What did Li Shutong himself say? He said, "I was already in middle age. I was gradually tired of the flashiness and sensuality. I longed for peace and quiet in my heart, and my lifestyle gradually became more restrained. In my opinion, Buddhism provides the world with a way to heal the fundamental pain of the impermanence of life. I feel that there is no more positive and meaningful path to life than the practice of Buddhism."

So he could persevere.

So I am thinking, actually, people should not make some particularly important life decisions at a young age, such as becoming a monk, because you have not fully experienced the joys, sorrows, sorrows and joys of the world, and becoming a monk at this time is actually just a temporary escape.